Hatred - June 4, 2017 sermon

By Pastor Greg.  

A not-so-bright man goes into an ice cream parlor and says, "I'd like two scoops of chocolate ice cream, please."  The girl behind the counter says, "I'm very sorry sir, but our delivery truck broke down this morning.  We're out of chocolate."  "In that case," the man says, "I'll have two scoops of chocolate ice cream."  "You don't understand, sir," the girl says.  "We have no chocolate."  Again, the man replies, "Then just give me some chocolate."

Getting angrier by the second, the girl says, "Sir, will you spell VAN, as in vanilla?"  The man says, "V-A-N."  "Now spell STRAW, as in strawberry."  "OK.  S-T-R-A-W."  "Now," the girl says, "spell STINK, as in chocolate."

The man hesitates.  Then he says.  "There is no “stink” in chocolate." 

"THAT'S WHAT I'VE BEEN TRYING TO TELL YOU!" she screams.

I’ll give you a minute.

If you’ve ever worked in retail, you understand how frustrating some people can be.  You wonder if they crawled out from under a rock.  Sometimes even the best of us become frustrated with others.  Their actions make us angry.  And if that anger is left unchecked, it can lead to hate.  Hate, of course, leads to suffering.

In our world today there are many whose actions make us angry.  There are people whom we have grown to hate.  But people like this have been around for a long, long time.  King David had to deal with people like this; people who “draw their swords and string their bows to kill the poor and the oppressed, to slaughter those who do right” (Psalm 37:14).  To keep anger from leading to hate and suffering, David says “⁷ Be still in the presence of the Lord, and wait patiently for him to act. Don’t worry about evil people who prosper or fret about their wicked schemes. ⁸ Stop being angry! Turn from your rage! Do not lose your temper - it only leads to harm” (Psalm 37:7-8).

Excuse me David, but you want me to do what?  Be still?  Wait on God?  And if David’s words were not enough, Jesus comes along and says, “love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you! ⁴⁵ In that way, you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:44-45).

  As difficult as these words are to hear, they are, unfortunately, even more difficult to live.  Sure, I don’t want to get angry with people; I don’t want to form biased opinions about them.  But keeping anger in check is very, very difficult, especially when certain people cause so much pain and suffering in the world.  There are times when waiting for God to act is the hardest thing we can do.

So, according to God, a believer has a responsibility to let go of anger and instead learn to love those who hurt them.  But doesn’t it just seem a whole lot easier to ignore God and let anger turn into hate?  I mean, some people hate us; why can’t we hate them back?

Jonah, the Prophet of God, chose to hate instead to obey.  And that hate made his life pretty miserable.  Sure, he hated the people of Nineveh.  And why wouldn’t he hate them?  The people of Nineveh were vile warmongers whose ideology of conquest was in complete contrast to the teachings of God … which Jonah knew very well.  The Prophet Hosea had warned that one day, Nineveh would capture Israel and slaughter its people (Hosea 11:5).  So, it just seems natural that Jonah would hate these people.  However, Jonah’s hatred led to disobedience; he chose to disobey God rather than take the Lord’s message to these people.

But...

Jonah’s hatred of foreigners caused him to run from God, get thrown into a stormy sea, be swallowed by a huge fish then vomited on a beach, and get a dreadful sunburn.  Jonah is the one who suffered here, not the people of Nineveh.  So, tell me again how Jonah’s hatred hurt the people of Nineveh?

Hatred hurts us more than it hurts those whom we hate.  Left unchecked, our anger will lead to hatred, which leads to suffering … our suffering.  It drives us away from God, causes us to be useless to God, puts us in some pretty trying situations, and makes us miserable in the end.

All right.  All right.  That may be true, but are we to believe that God will allow the wicked and evil people in this world to get away with all the suffering they cause?  Is God being fair?  Am I supposed to love a group of individuals who set off a bomb at a crowded concert, killing innocent men, women, and children?  I mean, when will God dispense some judgment?

Like Jonah, we are faced with the harsh reality that God wants these people to repent and be saved BEFORE the judgment.  I know.  I know.  We would rather God pass judgment right now.  But in His wisdom He has delayed that judgment.  He has delayed it because God does not want anyone to die.  “As surely as I live, says the Sovereign Lord, I take no pleasure in the death of wicked people. I only want them to turn from their wicked ways so they can live” (Ezekiel 33:11).  This is why God sent Jonah to Nineveh BEFORE they were destroyed.

Please take notice what God had Jonah say to these people.  ⁴ On the day Jonah entered the city, he shouted to the crowds: “Forty days from now Nineveh will be destroyed!” ⁵ The people of Nineveh believed God’s message, and from the greatest to the least, they declared a fast and put on burlap to show their sorrow.

⁶ When the king of Nineveh heard what Jonah was saying, he stepped down from his throne and took off his royal robes. He dressed himself in burlap and sat on a heap of ashes. ⁷ Then the king and his nobles sent this decree throughout the city:

“No one, not even the animals from your herds and flocks, may eat or drink anything at all. ⁸ People and animals alike must wear garments of mourning, and everyone must pray earnestly to God. They must turn from their evil ways and stop all their violence. ⁹ Who can tell? Perhaps even yet God will change his mind and hold back his fierce anger from destroying us.”

¹⁰ When God saw what they had done and how they had put a stop to their evil ways, he changed his mind and did not carry out the destruction he had threatened (Jonah 3:4-10).

In His mercy, God was sending Jonah to Nineveh before the judgment.  God wanted to spare Nineveh, and He wanted a Man of God to take this warning to the people.  If God really hated the people of Nineveh, why warn them about a coming judgment.  Why not smite them on the spot?

It’s this plain and simple: I must not hate those whom God loves.  And it’s pretty hard to determine just who God hates.  I mean, if He loved the people of Nineveh enough to send them this warning to repent, then is there anyone beyond God grace?  His great desire is for all to repent and be saved.  Why else would He send a Man to offer us terms of peace before the Great Day of Judgment.  And just because you or I have responded to His offer does not mean that others in this world will not or should not receive this same offer of grace.

Hatred has made this world a terrible place … which is why I imagine God is calling Christians to take God’s loving message out into the world today.  I know, we would rather not love others as the Lord has first loved us (1 John 4:19).  But before we run away from our responsibility, just remember what Jonah experienced because of his disobedience. 

I wonder how miserable OUR life may become if we allow hatred to grow in our own hearts.